Ever since I started writing here, I’ve really started to think about what it means to see the equality of women and men in practice. I recognize that our true identity is not these secondary aspects of our character and physicality but rather that part of ourselves that is the source of love, compassion, friendliness and generosity. I’ve also thought a lot about how the document tells us that we should question underlying assumptions that promote a certain way of thinking. Ask anyone who’s been around me these past 6 months; I’ve done a lot of questioning. Some of them have managed to make it onto the blog. Many of them (lucky for you) have not.

For the sake of brevity, I’ll offer only one example here. Given that it seems that many people around me have been getting married lately, I’ve had the pleasure of attending several beautiful weddings. A popular custom of the wedding is the official announcement of the bride and groom after they’ve exchanged vows. The Master of Ceremonies might proudly declare, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like to introduce Mr and Mrs. X”. Applause breaks out as guests indicate their happiness, love and support for the couple. It’s a wonderful way to allow the guests to show their love for the newly betrothed couple. This is also the time in which I turn to the person next to me and say, “I’m not going to change my last name, no one better introduce me like this at my wedding.” The wonderful thing about the world today is that for many changing their last name is a choice, one most do or don’t make happily and of their own accord. For me, it’s the assumption that I’ll change my name that I don’t like. Why should I, after years of holding a name, be expected to change it? Why is it just the natural expectation that the woman would change her last name? Those who have engaged in this conversation with me often bring up the idea of the unity of the family under one last name, the idea that you love someone and you want to be associated with them, among others. Those are both wonderful reasons to change your last name. But why are questions and assumptions of name changing rarely, if ever, directed towards the groom-to-be?

In questioning the cultural and social assumptions underpinning such a practice, am I really promoting equality? Does my insistence that I will not be changing my last name promote this principle? I think it’s easier to bring attention to more overt cases of sexism such as not getting a job or being ridiculed because of your gender but there are also smaller instances of inequality that creep into our lives. Often times the sexism that we will have to face will not be clear cut because it will have become so normalized in our society. There are layers of social norms and customs that reflect notions of male superiority at the level of thought and behaviour as well as in the structures of society. Is changing your last name one of them? Maybe not. But generally, how do we recognize and address these customs without resorting to negating every social practice?

Redefining Power is the last section of the document, “Advancing Towards the Equality of women and men”. The document helps us think a lot about what equality is and some of the features on which is should be based. However gaining a better understanding of equality is only one step. We should also translate this new understanding into action. Therefore, I’d like to move the focus of the blog onto the engendering part of its name.

Engendering – to cause to exist or to develop. To bring into existence, to give rise to. To propagate to originate.

So engendering equality is not just a catchy name, it’s can also a reminder of how we should be living our lives. In order to give us inspiration to be working towards engendering equality I thought it might be helpful to have people share their thoughts, actions and reflections on the promotion of gender equality within their social space. I recognize that not everyone feels they are making an active contribution to gender equality but in fact by believing in the validity and importance of this topic, you are in fact, consciously or subconsciously, very likely to be working to see it in practice. Therefore I think it would be very beneficial for others if people shared their experiences, even if it means just sharing ideas you are struggling with.

Perhaps by drawing on a wide number of contributors certain commonalities and learning can be produced which might help others in their path to promote equality between women and men. The beauty of inviting many people to participate is that the settings and language used to describe the struggles that go with undertaking this task will provide a diverse tapestry of experiences while still establishing an overall commonality between all of our experience.

I’d like to encourage people to write about their learnings, send them to engenderingequality@gmail.com and I’ll post them on the blog. It would be great if posts could be between 400-500 words. If you wanted to present your experiences in an artistic form, that would be more than welcome as well.

It was Public Enemy who famously encouraged people to “Fight the Power!” The song (and slogan) came to represent people’s frustrations with current social structures that promoted social divisions. “Fight the Power” was about encouraging people to take assert their rights and needs. Most often this call to fight the “power” has been interpreted as a literal fight – a goal that has to be achieved through violence. The power people were targeting was political authority and economic strength. Yet one of the members of Public Enemy explained that “Fight the Power” was about fighting the abuse of power. Fighting the abuse of power requires that people avoid taking on the same domineering and manipulative characteristics that they are in fact fighting against.

Famous fights against “power” have often resulted in violence. Pretty much every revolutionary war you can think of has led to bloodshed. At the same time there are popular examples of civil disobedience, in which those seeking for reform from those in positions of leadership sought to achieve their goals through nonviolent means. Yet turning to violence as a means of showing frustration continues to happen all too frequently. The recent fears for and acts of violence that have taken place in Egypt and Sudan illustrate that point. Even though in both of those instances the majority of the population tried to use nonviolence, brutality and aggression continued.

In our struggle to create change, how can we ensure that the means and methods by which we which we strive for the betterment of the world, including the promotion of the equality of women and men, embody and reinforce unifying, mutualistic, and cooperative expressions of power? How can we avoid “fighting the power” through fighting the power?

Some of the comments have brought up an interesting point of humility and power. These ideas made me think of a TEDtalk by Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, in which she tries to explain why there are so few female leaders. She believes that so often women dropout of the workforce before they can achieve a high ranking position. Sandberg believes that far too often women undervalue themselves and their abilities and this causes them to be undervalued in the workplace. She explains that men attribute success to themselves while women attribute success to other factors. For her, women’s inability to own their accomplishments means that they are not competitive in the work arena and this causes them to be unable to reach the highest levels.

It’s clear that our current system rewards confidence but I wonder what space there is for humility. It seems that humility has been so far removed from power that a person’s refusal to constantly acknowledge how great they are is seen as a weakness rather than a strength.

Is it possible for someone to reach the highest level in their occupation and not have to resort to constantly bringing attention to their accomplishments? Can this be an expression of power?

It’s worthwhile to think about what humility means. Being humble is to acknowledge that you still have room for improvement and that there are beings that exist that are more powerful than you. It is to recognize that people other than you have the capacity to do something. And this is crucial for the establishment of equality between women and men. It requires the realization that there are others (perhaps of the opposite gender) who are just as capable as you and sometimes even more so. To emphasize power as dominating over people is to continue to perpetuate inequality. Essentially it is to accept the status quo. And it is quite clear that the status quo is just not good enough.

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Welcome

At the core of this blog is the document “Advancing towards the Equality between Women and Men” prepared by the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity. However, engendering equality is not just a catchy name, it’s also a process we are all engaged in. In order to give us inspiration to be working towards engendering equality this blog tries to create a space in which actions and reflections are shared by individuals on the promotion of the equality of women and men within their social space.